A new bill tabled in the Alberta legislature on Monday includes a number of proposals that would affect employers. If passed, Alberta employers will have to continue providing group benefits plans to injured workers under existing coverage for a year following an injury and support the return to work of employees who suffer injuries and illnesses in the […]
Ontario’s fall economic statement confirmed a number of previously announced frameworks for the province’s pension, health-care and employment programs, including a look at addressing decumulation. The statement, delivered by Ontario’s Finance Minister Charles Sousa on Tuesday, noted the government is exploring new approaches to help retirees draw down their savings in an efficient, cost-effective manner so their savings […]
Ontario is planning to allow workers to take five days of paid leave as part of its package of labour law changes. While the government had originally planned to allow for an unpaid leave of absence of up to 17 weeks when an employee or a child has experienced or is facing the threat of domestic or […]
Too much avocado toast isn’t the reason younger Canadians have a hard time getting a start on their retirement savings. Canadian millennials are “literally working and studying more to have less” than their parents and grandparents, according to Paul Kershaw, associate professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, […]
The Quebec government has announced a plan to expand the Quebec Pension Plan in line with reforms to the Canada Pension Plan. As part of the changes, the government will establish an additional component to the QPP, similar to the planned reforms to the CPP. There will be the basic plan, which has been in effect […]
The Canadian government will discontinue the Canada savings bond and Canada premium bonds program on Nov. 1, 2017. While existing bonds will continue as usual until they mature or the purchaser redeems them, the option of buying them through a payroll savings program will now be off the table. The program reached peak popularity in the 1980s, but […]
Earlier this month, Health Canada did some substantial editing to its website, removing all references to a planned regulatory framework for orphan drugs. Orphan drugs are medications that treat rare diseases. The framework was an effort to help increase their availability for patients and foster their development by companies and researchers. Currently, Canada is one of the […]
Nova Scotia is following in the footsteps of a number of other provinces by looking into its funding framework for defined benefit pension plans. Like most jurisdictions in Canada, Nova Scotia requires defined benefit plans to be valued and funded on both a going-concern and a solvency basis. Under the review, the province is considering […]
It has been a busy period for changes to public drug programs in Ontario, as the provincial government has been working on policies with the potential to offer savings to private benefits plans: pharmacare coverage for people under the age of 25 and upgrades to the Trillium drug program for people with high drug costs. […]
Ontario’s standing committee on finance and economic affairs has passed a number of amendments to a bill aimed at boosting the province’s workplace standards legislation, including two changes concerning leave related to domestic and sexual violence. If the legislature passes the amendments, Bill 148 will include a new section providing for domestic or sexual violence […]